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Thursday, 12 August 2010

THE GLUCKSMAN

ART ABOUT TOWN TODAY

THE GLUCKSMAN

Made a cross-town trip this morning to see the Lewis Glucksman Gallery in the grounds of UCC. Impressive building and a very impressive viewing space. Admission is free but a five euro donation is suggested.

Anyone interested in pop music will find it worthwhile to take in one of the two current exhibitions. It is called Mixtapes, a mixed media show, and runs until 24 October 2010.

In the film The Band, Robbie Robinson, having decided to retire from touring, said the road was a hard place and listed the many performers that had died. Marc Bijl’s piece is the first you’ll see at the top of the stairs and could be something of a memorial, though The Band would have been a sixties phemon and this exhibition is more about the 70s and onwards.

Other items that caught my eye included Turntables by David Lamelas and the New York Dolls by Meredyth Sparks. Bettina’s Pousttchi’s Fans 2002 shows individual fans at a Robbie Williams concert but their individuality seems to merge and they become part of the herd.

Dennis McNulty’s We Built this City was constructed especially for this show. Didn't like this: a circular space surrounded by angled large size mirrors. Maybe, if my stomach was smaller! But yes I suppose it was “we”, now the middle aged and older, who built the city.

There are also some video installations but just check out the individual lengths before you grab the headphones and sit down to watch. Some are quite long, one at least running for over fifty minutes. Didn't see much on the Irish scene, disappointing considering the part our groups have played in popular music over the decades.

It is more or less all Irish upstairs but you will need time galore also to get the full value from the other exhibition: From the Sources, a sound art installation by Mel Mercier to commemorate the Fleischmann centenary. That too runs until October 24th. The sounds of traditional Irish music, provided by some 96 musicians, all staff , students or graduates of UCC, plus the various videos, played on different types of screens, create a terrific atmospheric space.

The Glucksman also has quite an extensive shop with books on art in general plus a huge range of specialist publications on individual subjects.

If you are in the city centre and have a little time to spare, call to the North Main Street’s Vision Centre to see the 2010 Texaco Children’s Art Show. Nothing controversial here though maybe some of those young minds are working up to it. Lots of bright pictures as you might expect and I enjoyed, among others, colourful works by Maria McStay (Proud Peacock) and Cara Hunter (Puffin Fishing). Hints of things to come are seen in the darker works of Dearbhla Reid (Hope) and Fiona Fahy (Hurt).

You often find a bonus upstairs at the Vision Centre and this time it is the Showcase of the work of the Cork Chapter of the Irish Woodturners Guild. I met one of their proud mentors there and he pointed out some lovely work, really delicate pieces, by Jerry Twomey. Great stuff from one and all, though I particularly liked the pieces by Twomey, Dermot Chapman and John O’Shea.

Summer Artists is the title of the current exhibition at the Lavit which runs until August 21st. The one that really caught my eye upstairs here was Eadaoin Harding Kemp’s This if the Moment (pictured left) while downstairs it was an evocative scene form Cornmarket Street by veteran draughtsman William Harrington.